Quick Links

HauncHed tenons for tHe stretcHer 3⁄8 in. 3⁄8 in. 15⁄8 in. 1 in. Plunge right in. Cullen begins the haunched mortise by cutting the full-depth section with a plunge router. Then he squares it up, chopping the ends of the full-depth mortise with a chisel before moving on to the haunch. cutouts on the legs, and cutting the arced and profiled edges of the top. Haunch last. With the full-depth mortise finished and the fence still clamped in place, make a shallower pass with the router to create the haunched section of the mortise. Make templates for layout I draw the curved layout lines on the legs using templates made from 1⁄4-in. MDF or Masonite. Make one template for the leg cutouts and a second template for the curved faces of the legs. I use trammel points to draw the broad arcs for the foot cutout and the face curve. For the shoulder cutouts, which are elliptical, I trace a French curve. Cut right to the pencil lines with the bandsaw, then fair the curves with sandpaper on a flexible block. Because the template material is just 1⁄4 in. thick, the work goes quickly. When you’ve finished the templates and used them to lay out all the curves on the legs, lay out the joinery—the haunched mortise for the stretcher and the dowel holes where the legs attach to the top. Make a mate. Cut a haunched tenon on the stretcher to fit the mortise. Cullen cuts the cheeks using a shopmade tenoning jig (left), and the shoulders using a miter gauge (above). 66 FINE woodworkIN g Cut the joinery I cut all the joinery at this point, while the parts are still square blanks. I start with the haunched mortise, which I cut in three steps: first plunge-routing the full-depth section, then squaring the ends of that cavity with a chisel, and finally going back with the router to cut the haunch. That done, I cut the mating haunched tenons at the tablesaw. For the doweling, I create a simple jig by face-gluing two scraps of 3⁄4-in. MDF. I cut guide holes in the jig on the drill press and then use it with a hand drill. Photos, except where noted: Jonathan Binzen